Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Punctuation
The Learning Centre http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au
Good punctuation is crucial for successful academic writing. Many students essays use little punctuation
beyond commas and full stops. But to be restricted to just two forms of punctuation mark, when writing
your essay, is like building a house using only a hammer and a saw: you can do it; but not very well. By
learning to use more, or all, of the available forms of punctuation you will be able to communicate and
express your ideas, and arguments, more clearly.
Full Stop (.)
Full stops have three distinct uses:
1. To mark the end of a sentence
2. To indicate abbreviated words (unless first and
last letters of the word are shown).
Examples:
The cat is completely black.
The teacher will be John Smith (B. Sci.).
All assignments should be submitted by 6. 6. 03.
Colon (:)
Examples:
Buy these things: a packet of peanuts, two loaves of bread and a kilogram
of steak.
research.
The Television set, as the icon of the information age, represents the
realisation of a dream for humankind: that knowledge and experience can
be transmitted and shared across the boundaries of time and space.
Semi-Colon (;)
Examples:
She came out of the house, which had a long drive, and saw him at the end
Comma (,)
Example:
of the path; but instead of continuing towards him, she hid until she left.
Example:
Apostrophe ()
Examples:
1. Contractions
2. Possessives
Hyphen (-)
Examples:
Dashes ()
Examples:
Parentheses ( )
Example:
It was unusual to see Paul awake so early (as he often studied late into
cities.
Example
How disgraceful!
Ellipsis ( ... )
Example:
But to be restricted to just two forms of punctuation mark ... is like building
a house using only a hammer and a saw: you can do it; but not very
well.
Prepared by Prepared by Ian Collinson, Pam Mort & Tracey-Lee Downey for The Learning Centre, The University of New South Wales
2009. This guide may be distributed for educational purposes and adapted with proper acknowledgement.